1. Field of the Invention
This application relates generally to semiconductor processing. More particularly, this application relates to the selective deposition of films and equipment configured for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known, semiconductor processing is most commonly employed for the fabrication of integrated circuits, which entails particularly stringent quality demands, but such processing is also employed in a variety of other fields. For example, semiconductor processing techniques are often employed in the fabrication of flat panel displays using a wide variety of technologies and in the fabrication of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
A variety of methods are used in the semiconductor manufacturing industry to deposit materials onto surfaces. For example, one of the most widely used methods is chemical vapor deposition (“CVD”), in which atoms or molecules contained in a vapor deposit on a surface and build up to form a film. In some contexts, it is desirable to deposit selectively within semiconductor windows exposed among fields of different materials, such as field isolation oxide. For example, heterojunction bipolar transistors are often fabricated using selective deposition techniques that deposit epitaxial (single-crystal) semiconductor films only on active areas. Other transistor designs benefit from elevated source/drain structures, which provide additional silicon that can be consumed by the source/drain contact process without altering shallow junction device performance. Selective epitaxy on source/drain regions advantageously reduces the need for subsequent patterning and etch steps.
Generally speaking, selectivity takes advantage of differential nucleation and/or formation of different crystal morphology during deposition on disparate materials. Selective deposition can generally be explained by simultaneous etching and deposition of the material being deposited. The precursor of choice will generally have a tendency to nucleate and grow more rapidly on one surface and less rapidly on another surface. For example, silane will generally nucleate on both silicon oxide and silicon, but there is a longer nucleation phase on silicon oxide. At the beginning of a nucleation stage, discontinuous films on oxide have a high exposed surface area relative to merged, continuous films on silicon. Similarly, the growth on the insulating regions can be amorphous or polycrystalline whereas growth on the semiconductor windows can be epitaxial. Accordingly, an etchant added to the process will have a greater effect upon the poorly nucleating film on the oxide as compared to the more rapidly nucleating film on the silicon. Similarly, an etchant can be more effective against amorphous or polycrystalline growth, whether from a prior deposition or during deposition, than against epitaxial growth. The relative selectivity of a process can thus be tuned by adjusting factors that affect the deposition rate, such as precursor flow rates, temperature, pressure, and factors that affect the rate of etching, such as e.g., etchant flow rate, temperature, pressure. Changes in each variable will generally have different effects upon etch rate and deposition rate. Typically, a selective deposition process is tuned to produce the highest deposition rate feasible on the window of interest while accomplishing no deposition in the field regions.
Known selective silicon deposition processes include reactants such as silane and hydrochloric acid with a hydrogen carrier gas. Co-owned and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/343,264, entitled “SELECTIVE DEPOSITION OF SILICON-CONTAINING FILMS,” published as U.S. 2006/0234504 A1 on Oct. 19, 2006, teaches processes that employ trisilane as a silicon source and chlorine gas as an etchant. These selective deposition processes show improved uniformity, purity, deposition speed and repeatability. However, strong exothermic reactions have been observed, potentially leading to premature reactant breakdown, damage to the gas intermixing tank, combustion, and substrate contamination. Other selective deposition chemistries are also subject to excessive reactivity. Accordingly, reaction apparatuses and selective deposition processes are desired that avoid such adverse effects while maintaining their efficacy for selective deposition.